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Okay so I think I posted this in the Excercise Form area but assumed it had to be approved, which made me think maybe it was in the wrong place. I can't see it there anywho.

Anyway!!

Deadlift and Bench Form Critique please guys!

Some things you should know

- First heavy Deadlift session in 2.5 months due to Injury
- I know that I have broken head syndrome
- I know that I have too much rounding in the back
- Hips are still tight but getting better daily

- The Bench hasn't been done for me for about 2 months. I've been DB Benching and getting A LOT stronger!
- My long arms make the bench look really weird and awkward for me. 6 ft 7 armspan, 6 ft 2 me!
- My Bench is stronger with a closer grip than a wider
- I'm a Basketball player, not a bodybuilder!!

Your deadlift stance is a "tweener stance". It's neither conventional or sumo. It is a stance that is trying to figure out what it's doing.

If you're going to go sumo you need to widen your feet and turn those toes out. If you're going to go conventional you need to bring the feet in and get your hands on the outside of your legs.

Your current pseudo-sumo you are hanging out over the bar. If you stick with sumo you must lower the hips, stick your chest out, tighten that lower back and pull. This will help you get your center of gravity more back behind the bar and save your lower back. It will also improve leverage and reduce risk of injury.

Bench press you are completely flat-backed with no upper body tightness. I recommend watching some videos here on MAB:

Your deadlift stance is a "tweener stance". It's neither conventional or sumo. It is a stance that is trying to figure out what it's doing.

If you're going to go sumo you need to widen your feet and turn those toes out. If you're going to go conventional you need to bring the feet in and get your hands on the outside of your legs.

Your current pseudo-sumo you are hanging out over the bar. If you stick with sumo you must lower the hips, stick your chest out, tighten that lower back and pull. This will help you get your center of gravity more back behind the bar and save your lower back. It will also improve leverage and reduce risk of injury.

Bench press you are completely flat-backed with no upper body tightness. I recommend watching some videos here on MAB:

These are all found in our video compilations sub-forum which contains a wealth of knowledge on every lift.

Extremely helpful response, thanks BTB!

With the stance I have I am more comfortable than conventional dead form. So with Sumo how much further out am I looking to go? Will this have any effects (negative or positive) different from Conventional? My hips are still tight but getting better, and I am deadlifting again tomorrow so I will record that one and see if my form is any better after your tips! Which deadlift do you think I would be more suited to based on my length?

In reference to the Bench Press, all of those resources were extremely helpful and I'm looking forward to benching again and seeing how much different It feels. The one thing that confused me is that in the first two (Not the Rippetoe collection) it looks as if their ass isn't on the bench, though Rippetoe says it should be? Which am I better off going with? Is it touching the bench and I just can't see it because of the angle? The arch looks very severe. I will practice it though! I am going to do a few practice Bench sets tomorrow morning so will let you know how I get on with that. I'll upload that video and you can see what you think!

My upper body relaxes, you are most definitely right there, and I am assuming that is why I struggle to get the bar back up because there is no solid base there?

Thanks again BTB, this has been extremely insightful! I want to be the strongest basketball player to ever grace a court, and this will help! Thank you so much!!